Message-tablet



(No Model.) C G MESSAGE TABLET.

110.453,711. Patented June 9,1891.

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rTEn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

M ESSAG E-TABLET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 453,711, dated June 9, 1891.

Application filed September l', 1890. Serial No. 365,286. (No model.)

To all whom, t may concern:

Beit known that I, CHARLES GUNNAE Mo- LIN, of the city of Brooklyn, county of Kings, 4

and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Message-Tablets, of which the following is a specification.

For the purpose of receiving communications left at their offices or places of business physicians and many others employ slates or tablets placed in a suitably-exposed position, and on which the message is written and left. It is often desirable that such messages should not be left open to public reading, and also to protect the communication from chance erasure or possible alteration.

The object of my invention is to provide a series of tablets, each to be used in turn, and

each ot which, after the message is written upon it, may be inserted in a suitable 'protecting-case and become automatically locked therein, so that it cannot be removed except by the insertion of a key kept by the person for whom the'message is intended.

My invention consists in a box or case adapted to contain a series of superposed tablets and to hold the same in place while projecting from one side. The said box is provided with as many spring-bolts as there are tablets, and said bolts, when the tablets are inserted, hold them in place within the box. By the insertion of a key all the bolts are simultaneously retracted, thus releasingthe tablets.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a front view ot my device. Fig. 2 is a sectional view on the line X X of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a partial horizontal section on the line Y Y of Fig. 1.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts.

A represents a back or base board, which may be provided with an eye B for suspension upon a wall.

C is a box or case secured in any suitable way to one side of said base-board. lVithin said box C are placed the tablets o, b c, rbc., which are to be written upon. At one of the upper corners of each of said tablets is a projection D, and in the vertical side of each tablet, near the upper corner, is a notch E, having one edge curved or beveled, as shown at F, and in the same edge of said. tablet and nearthe opposite lower corner is a notch G. Each tablet is provided at its lower edge with a projection I I', tbc., each projectionhaving its lower edge turned outward, as shown. These projections are of different lengths and rest one upon the other. In the lower portion of the box C is a stop J, and on the opposite side of said box is a small compartment L, in which are arranged as many bolts M M, dre., as there are tablets. Each bolt is independently supported by a spring, as N, the said springs at their upper ends being secured in the chamber L in any suitable way.

The operation ofthe device is as follows: The tablets are normally in the position shown in Fig. l-that is, with the projection D resting on the stop J and the bolt M entering the notch E ot each tablet, so that said tablets are in this way suspended. The user writes upon the outer tablet any desired communication, and then by means of the projection I pushes the tablet up into the box O. The beveled edge F of the notch E thus pushes back the spring-bolt M, and this bolt, when the tablet enters the box, engages in the notch G, and thus holds and secures the tablet in place within the box C. The second tablet, which is then exposed, may be written upon in like manner and pushed up, and so on until all the tablets are inserted and held within the box C. In order to release the tablets from the box O, the key O is used. This key, as shown in Fig. 3, is inserted in an opening I in front of the box until its cylindrical extremity Q enters a hole in the rear side of the box. The key is then turned, when its flat portion presses against all the spring-bolts M, and so moves the bolts rearward and causes them to leave the notches G, and so release the tablets, which are free then to drop to their lowest positions, when the communications upon them may be read.

The tablets I I', dre., may be card, slate, Celluloid, or any other suitable material, and may be made either as simple fiat pieces, as is shown, or may be each inclosed in a suitable frame. The box O may be constructed, as here represented, in the form of a simple case, or it may be provided interiorly with vertical ways or slides to separate the tablets one from the other. Then the tablets are in their lowest position, as shown in Fig. l, the

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retraction of the bolts by the key, as before, allows of the tablets being removed entirely from the box C, so that they may then, if desired, be filed away and new tablets inserted.

The form of the springs may be altered, as by bending or corrugating. The shape of the key maybe correspondingly modified, so as toA Please call at 1137 Lexington Ave., City,

(shown in the drawings, Fig. 1,) illustrate a message Written on the exposed tablet.

I do not limit myself to a box vertically placed, so that the tablets are suspended from its lower edge, inasmuch as obviously the tablets may protrude from the side of said box.

-1. The combination of a box or case, a tab-4` let constructed to enter said box and to pro-4 trude through one side thereof, and a movable bolt engaging with the edge of said tablet.`

2. The combination of a box or case, a tablet constructed to enter said box and to pro-y trude through one side thereof, a notch in one edge and near the inner border of said tablet, and a movable bolt arranged to enter 'said' notch. 1 l 3. The combination of a box or case, a tablet constructed to enter said box and to pro-` trude through one side thereof, a notch in one edge and neai; the outer border of said tablet, and a movable bolt arranged to enter said notch.

4. The combination of a box or case, a tablet constructed to enter said box and. to protrude through one side thereof, a movable bolt engaging with the edge of said tablet, and a key constructed to enter said box and to actuate said bolt.

5. The combination of a box or case, a tablet constructed to enter said box and to protrude through one side thereof, a spring-bolt normally engaging with the edge of said tablet, and a key constructed to enter said box and to actuate said bolt to retract the same.

6. The combination of a box or case, a series of tablets constructed to enter said box vand be superposed therein andV toV protrude through one side thereof, a series of springbolts, each normally engaging with the respective tablets, and a key constructed to enter said box and to act upon said bolts to retract the same.

7. In combination with the case C, provided with the stop J and the spring-bolt M, a tablet, as I, constructed to enter said box and to protrude through one side thereof and provided With the projection D, meeting said stop J, and with the notches E G, receiving the said bolt M.

CHARLES GN N AR MOLIN.

Witnesses:

M. BosoH, J. E. GREER. 

